NBA Insider Reveals Reasoning Behind Kings' Controversial Decision

For fans, this may be slightly frustrating to hear because it doesn’t seem like the team was just one piece away from competing with the best teams in the league. It may not have seemed necessary to go sign Dennis Schroder instead of prioritizing Ellis’ extension, but it clearly shows the team is interested in at least trying to compete. It isn’t worth going into the merit of this from Sacramento, but it does sound like Ellis is a priority now. 

“Now, we hope to get something done that keeps Keon in Sacramento, because he’s a really good player and different from all of our other guards.”

There is also something to picking up Ellis’ team option as a “show of trust” from Sacramento. If the Kings and Ellis don’t come to an agreement, Ellis will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

In this case, Sacramento wouldn’t have the benefit of being able to match any offer for Ellis and could even run into a situation where a team frees up cap space to give him a big deal. Because of this, Sacramento has a lot of incentive to extend Ellis before he hits free agency, and I don’t believe they intend to lose one of their better young players for nothing. 

For Ellis, this is actually a win-win. Restricted free agency has been incredibly dry with players like Cam Thomas, Jonathan Kuminga, Quentin Grimes, and Josh Giddy still without new deals.

Most of the reason for this is that there are so few teams with the cap space required to present an offer sheet, so it’s likely Keon would have the same fate. For Ellis, he can either sign a long-term deal in Sacramento or test free agency next summer when more teams project to have space. 

All of this points to Sacramento eventually getting an extension done for Ellis, but it is also important to note that this current front office didn’t inherit the best cap situation. Sacramento has historically not been a team that will spend into the luxury tax threshold, so having Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, and DeMar DeRozan making a combined $115 million isn’t ideal.

Given that the Kings are not going to pay any luxury tax, the previous front office left a pretty low ceiling for Scott Perry and BJ Armstrong’s team. Luckily for Sacramento, they do have some flexibility for next year, which bodes well for them keeping Ellis beyond this year. 

The problem with all of this is that forcing Ellis to play another year on a deal that he’s clearly outplayed could cause a rift between him and the team. Ellis is making less than pretty much everyone on the roster, including rookie Nique Clifford.

As good as Clifford is, that just isn’t fair to Ellis. There aren’t many avenues for the Kings to get enough space to extend Ellis and stay under the tax line, so let’s hope that both parties are on the same page. Per league rules, Ellis can be extended at any time, so this will be something to track, possibly into the regular season.